Physician, Heal Thyself
by MarieStarbuck
Summary: A short drabble about George's funeral  written before I saw how they handled it on the show  I found hidden in my files. Slightly sad.


"_Just one last thing. Life is short, George. Life is short and it sucks a lot of the time." Isobel Stevens_

It wasn't right; the rain falling, the dark cloudy sky, the numerous tears being shed around her. She shouldn't be here; none of them should be here. They are doctors, surgeons. There job is to save life, to cut and sew and fight with everything they have to stop death. Yet here they are.

_ Miranda Bailey 'Did I fail you O'Malley?'_

_George O'Malley 'No. . . No I failed you'_

The graveyard is a sea of black and to Bailey it seems that everyone who had ever met George O'Malley has turned up to pay their last respects. There is his mother and his brothers and others who she assumes are various O'Malley aunts, uncles and cousins. Then there are his other family; her old interns. The four stand together where there once were five, supporting each other and grieving the loss of one of their own. Behind them stands the Chief and the various attendings; Shepherd directly behind Grey looking ready to catch her should she fall, Hunt hovering protectively near Yang, Robbins silently holding Torres upright as if grief alone might cause her to crumble. Slightly to their left stands the current interns including a distraught looking Lexie Grey wrapped in the arms of none other than Mark Sloan.

The entire nursing staff of Seattle Grace sit solemnly in their chairs; their presence is payback for the man who once refused to cross the picket line except at their insistence that the patients needed tending. Next to them sit the ex-patients and their families who had heard the tragic news along with long lost friends from a time before his residency. Even men and women who had new lives elsewhere have returned out of respect for O'Malley; Burke is standing unobtrusively to one side not wishing to stir up bad memories, Montgomery is sitting quietly not wishing to draw attention. Today was not a day for personal drama, today was a day to mourn a loved one.

Bailey is stood apart, her own grief too painful and private to share. Her black coat is drawn tightly around her and the green knitted scarf is wrapped securely round her neck. He was her baby; though not of her own body he held a place in her heart. O'Malley, Grey, Yang, Stevens and Karev were her children, she taught them, she watched them grow and now she is burying one of them.

"_It's like we are on a train that's going 200 miles an hour… it's so nice to get off. Just… stand on the platform, just for a minute." George O'Malley_

The ceremony is simple, just the way George would have wanted it. A long line of people move slowly to say their final goodbyes to the lid of the wooden casket before it is lowered gently into the fresh, damp earth. Before the priest finishes the ceremony they are invited to say a few words.

Mrs O'Malley speaks first; her red rimmed eyes and tear stained cheeks a symbol of her loss. She talks of her pride in George, the awe she felt when her youngest became a doctor and the love and enthusiasm he had always shown for his job. She says she was glad that he had died a hero and, although he was taken too soon, at least he died in the hospital, a place he loved, surrounded by friends who cared deeply for him. As she finishes talking her remaining sons step onto the podium to add their own brief testament to their brother.

"Georgie was always different to us. He was the brainy one and used the long words that common folk don't understand but we was proud of him being a doctor and proud of him being our brother. Bye Georgie.'

The Chief steps up next; his face impassive as he speaks his testament to O'Malley.

Bailey had once heard them described as Meredith's people and she realised that these former interns were the best kind of family; one that's there for you no matter what. They are the last to leave, bar Bailey herself, and turn to walk away only when the sky began to become inky black and spotted with stars. They may be leaving the graveyard and the grey, marble headstone but they all know that they would forever carry a piece of George with them in their hearts. Meredith's chatty children with perfect hair would know of their Uncle George and how he helped her through terrible times. Cristina would sometimes mention her old friend 007 when drunk or miserable. Izzie would tell the world about Dr O'Malley and Alex, Alex would use George as an example to children he treated.

George taught them that friendship and family was both something you had to earn and something that went the distance, he taught them to help each other and he taught them to love. He was gone physically but he would always be with them.

_Fin_


End file.
